Idol of the Heavenly One - vanish into fiction

“Our son, guess what~ You know that group called Curve? The national idols? He got casted by their agency~”

“Yeah~ My brother got into CZ, one of the big three entertainment companies~”

“I’m heading out now…….”

“Oh my, our son, be careful out there!”

“Oppa, be careful!”

…Yes. Okay.

“That’s right, our eldest, Myeong-hyeon. He’s the one who got cast~”

“My oppa is kind of good-looking, right~? Can’t you tell just by looking at me~?”

This news spread not just to my cousins but even to distant relatives, then to the students and parents at my father’s judo school, and in less than a week, everyone in the neighborhood knew.

Which meant—

“Hey! Ji Myeong-hyeon! I heard you got into CZ Entertainment! So you’re gonna debut as an idol?!”

Even Jong-seok the chatterbox had heard. True to his nickname, the moment he got the news, he started spreading it around even faster.

“What! I knew it! You’re the one CZ was scouting that time, right, Ji Myeong-hyeon?!”

Shim Kyu-jin, who was standing nearby, immediately lit up with excitement as if he had expected this all along, and other classmates in the room started crowding around with curious looks.

“Yeah, honestly, Ji Myeong-hyeon. You just look grumpy like an old man with that ugly mushroom haircut, but you’re actually kinda good-looking.”

“Right. This bastard is tall, too, and he’s got good proportions.”

It was overwhelming. I had never been the center of attention once in my entire school life, and now I was suddenly surrounded by all this interest.

I almost shot a glare at Jong-seok, but the one truly responsible for all this was my father. What fault did that chatterbox have? He was only doing what he was born to do.

…I think it’s kind of fascinating too.

What I really wanted to say was, “Go back to your seats and study. Final exams are coming.” But I answered as simply and sincerely as I could.

“After you sign the contract, you’ll officially be part of our company, so you always need to behave properly. You’ve lived an exemplary life so far, unlike kids who go around drinking or bullying others, so there’s not much to worry about. But from today onward, you need to act even more ideally. You come off as a bit too T-like and blunt, so it might be good to speak as kindly and warmly as possible, whether to your friends or your family.”

This was Yoo Myeong-jin’s advice. Of course, I was already living much more uprightly and kindly than most boys my age, so I could have complained about being asked to act even more cheesy and sentimental, but debut was on the line. I did not want to give them even one single flaw to nitpick.

“Ji Myeong, Ji Myeong. So after school today, are you going to CZ Entertainment to practice?”

Yeah.

“Wow! Then you’ll start practicing singing and dancing now?!”

“I guess so.”

“Hul! That’s so cool!”

What is so cool about this? It’s not like my debut is confirmed yet. I am just going there to practice.

“Right. I still can’t believe it myself.”

But since I had to follow the guidelines, I answered while pretending to be a little shy and awkward. Then, in the children’s eyes, something like admiration started to flicker, and it was so pure and cute that I had to stifle a laugh.

Wow, hiding your expression is not easy. But if I became a celebrity, this would become a daily thing, so I needed to start practicing hiding my expressions now.

“Hi.”

But in front of this face, I could not hide my expression no matter what.

“…Uh, hi.”

When Baek Jae-heon greeted me right after we ran into each other at the station in front of CZ Entertainment after school, I could not stop the corners of my lips from creeping up, as if I had just been handed a gold frog.

How could I be given the chance to debut alongside someone who looks like that? When I used to see him only through a screen, I thought he had a face that would make three hundred million won and then three hundred million more, but I take that back. That face would make fifty billion won after subtracting three hundred million.

Seriously, I had to debut with him. Debut together, make lots of money, buy my parents a new house, and rebuild my dad’s gym.

“Why are you smiling?”